Anthony Marwood (violin), Aleksandar Madzar (piano)Wigmore Hall Live WHLive 0050 ****

Brahms's three violin sonatas present a fuller picture of the composer than either his three piano sonatas or three string quartets. But it's mostly a private Brahms that they present. The composer once described the first as "no more useful for publicity than I myself". His close friend Elisabeth von Herzogenberg referred to the second as "one caress". And it's only the third which really seems to conform with anything close to the conventions of public statement or virtuosity. Anthony Marwood and Aleksandar Madzar's performances, recorded at concerts in London's Wigmore Hall between September 2010 and May 2011, have the freedom of give and take that brings the listener right inside the music so that, especially in the first two works, every detail can be heard to count. url.ie/fa5t